The present invention relates to three-level stacking containers of the type employed in the delivery and handling of bakery products. A container of the type to which the present invention is directed is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,611, and the present invention is specifically directed to improvements to the container of that patent.
The container of my U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,611 is of a type in which the major portion of the front wall of the container is of a reduced height as compared to the side and rear walls, the front wall projecting upwardly above the bottom for a minimum distance sufficient to prevent articles from sliding out the front of the container. This particular arrangement is found convenient in some applications because the type of product carried in the different containers in a stack can be seen readily from the front of the stack.
The container of my U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,611 provides for stacking of one container at any of three selected levels with respect to a like, underlying supporting container. Stacking of a container at the uppermost or high-level position upon the lower container is accomplished by resting stacking feet projecting outwardly from the opposed sidewalls of the upper container upon stacking seats formed along the upper edge of the sidewalls of the underlying container. Downwardly extending openings are provided respectively to the front and to the rear of each stacking seat. The opening at the rear of the stacking seat will guide the stacking foot of a like container to an intermediate level stacking seat underlying the upper stacking seat, while the opening in front of the upper stacking seat will guide a stacking foot to a lower stacking seat underlying both the upper and intermediate stacking seats.
While the container of my U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,611 has received widespread commercial acceptance, movement of an upper container to or from the intermediate stacking level on an underlying container requires the upper container to be moved through a position in which its rear wall is offset rearwardly from the rear wall of the underlying container. Frequently, the container stack is located in a delivery truck with the rear walls of the containers in the stack closely adjacent to or in contact with a wall of the truck or another stack of containers to the point where interference is encountered in stacking and unstacking containers at the intermediate level.
Other examples of containers of this generic type--that is, three-level containers with lowered front walls--are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,320,837 and 4,238,032; however, these latter containers are designed in a fashion such that the stacking feet and upper stacking seat are relatively narrow, in their front-to-rear dimension, thus making the stacking of these latter containers in their high-level position a rather delicate operation which requires a quite precise alignment of the upper and lower containers as the upper container is stacked.
The present invention is directed to an improvement to the construction disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,611 which enables the upper container to be stacked at any of the three levels without requiring the upper container to be moved beyond the rear wall of the underlying container.